Researchers at the Cornell University have taken inspiration from nature and tried to imitate the swaying of tree branches. So what is the difference between natural swaying of trees and energy-harvesting tree created by Cornell University researchers? The flapping leaves developed in the laboratory generate energy which can be utilized by us. They are christened as the “Piezo-tree.” The synthetic leaves of the “Piezo-tree” are connected to a piezoelectric stem. The whole exercise till now appears to be low-cost, and easily scalable.
The movement of leaves is responsible for generating energy. They convert wind energy into electrical energy. The flapping motion of the leaves causes the instability of the aero-elastic system. The main constituent of the “Piezo-tree” is of Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) which is a flexible piezoelectric material.
The prototype behaves as a tree facing breeze. The Piezo-tree’s flexible plate and film oscillate just as a flag or leaf might flap in the wind. The flapping motion is generated due to instability of the aero-elastic system. Because the flexible piezoelectric material Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) can endure unpredictable wind strength. They have attached one edge of PVDF element to a cylinder bluff body and left the other edge free. When the breeze blows and touches this bluff body, it leads to a vortex-shedding. Then the periodic pressure difference forces the piezo-leaf to synchronously bend in the downstream of the air wake. The AC signal is gleaned from the flapping piezo-leaf that is working on a periodic bending model, and the electrical energy is then stored in a capacitor after rectifying it with a full-wave bridge.
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